17 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

Principal’s Report

Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended the online interviews with teachers over the past 2 weeks. It has been wonderful for teachers to talk and discuss the class and personal goals for 2022 for each student. Although it is difficult using the online platform it has allowed teachers who are at home isolating or with COVID to connect with the parents and for parents in this situation to also have this opportunity. We are still averaging up to 100 students a day absent who are isolating (family contact) or with COVID, and approximately 4 staff members daily. We hope that these attendance figures will drop to allow for more face-to-face events next term. Thank you for your support and cooperation with this interview process.

High School 2022- Expression of Interest due Friday 25 March

Last Monday Mrs Blackband held a parent information night for all Year 6 parents. Thank you to all parents who attended this evening. The Expression of Interest (EOI forms were handed out during this evening and are due back to school by Friday 25 March.

As explained on the evening these forms are not enrolment forms but ways to inform High Schools of their anticipated intake for 2023. Every Year 6 student must complete this form and return it to School by Friday 25 March, even if they are attending private schools, Catholics schools or moving interstate. This is the start of the application process.

High schools will inform parents if the EOI is successful and send the enrolment form directly later next term.

Band Captains- Badges Friday 18 March

Congratulations to Kenji Nicholls and Ashleigh Forrest who have been elected as Band Captains for 2022. These year 6 students will receive their badges at the Friday morning assembly tomorrow, 18 March. Parents welcome.

SRC Representatives 2022

Congratulations to the students below on receiving their badges at last week’s assembly. We look forward to hearing from you all in future SRC meetings.

National Day Against Bullying and Violence- Friday 18 March

Friday 18 March is the National Day against Bullying and Violence with a theme of “Kindness Culture,” to promote inclusiveness, respect and community belonging. Teachers will focus on discussion around our school’s anti-bullying policy which supports our school’s motto of “Caring and Sharing and Achieving your Personal Best.” More information regarding this day can be found by following the link below:

NAPLAN Practice Tests- Years 3 & 5

Over the next few weeks our Year 3 & 5 students will take part in some online practice tests in preparation for the National Assessment Program -Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). NAPLAN is an annual assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 and covers skills in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punctuation, and numeracy. The actual tests will take place from Tuesday 10 May through to Friday 20 May. Results from these assessments inform us of the directions for school learning and is important that all students in Years 3 & 5 are here for these tests. We will be completing these tests online so practising the online component can be done through following the link below.

Check-in Assessments- Years 4 & 6

The Year 4 & 6 students will participate in check in assessments during week 10 and 11 of this term. These assessments will be online. Students in Years 4 & 6 will complete these assessments in class during these weeks. These assessments allow teachers to track and plan for the students in their classes for 2022.

Selective High School Test- Thursday 31 March

Last week the selective high school test was postponed until Thursday 31 March. The test will be administered at school that day by Mrs Blackband. Please ensure your child attends school ready for these examinations if they have applied for a position at selective high for 2023.

Bushlink Visit- Wednesday 23 March- Kindergarten

Next Wednesday we will have a visit from the Bushlink team. This is an inclusive program to support people with a disability, helping them to hold real jobs, develop self-respect and a high degree of personal pride and sense of self-worth. The Bushlink team will work with all grades this year starting with Kindergarten next week. The team come and work with the students to maintain our bushland gardens and teach the children ways to care for the environment. We will have some gardening gloves available on the day but Kindergarten parents may also wish to send in some gloves for their children on that day.

School Crossing- Safety First

Please make sure you instruct your children to use the crossing at the front of the school. This week we had a report of a child crossing further down the street and not at the crossing which is extremely dangerous at pick up and drop off times. There is no crossing supervisor at this stage so parents must be vigilant and teach their children to always use the crossing no matter where they need to cross. Please always model safe behaviour for our students.

School Fees

Early next week we will be emailing home the “Whole School Program” fees.

Text/Work books have already been distributed and are being used in the classroom.

As a school we provide quality teaching programs in dance and gymnastics and employ expert teachers for these areas. The Dance programs for Kindergarten to year 2 culminates in an end of term 2 performance with costuming and choreographed routines. Years 3 & 4 students also have a HipHop exhibition at the end of Term 3, along with Year 5 students who perform ballroom dances during the Dancesport program. The year 6 students learning contemporary dances which they perform at their end of year school graduation evening.

The other scheduled costs including IT are used to pay for whole school licences for programs including Mathletics, Reading Eggs, Wushka, Typing Tournament and World Book which also contributes to the employment of an IT specialist to maintain the computers one day a week.

The voluntary contribution is $90.00 per student and contributes to the replacement of laptops, iPad and smartboards used by the classes. Most schools do not have a one-to-one device ratio and we are very lucky to have been given these devices as a “trial” school, but now need to maintain and update them as part of ongoing school costs. P & C fundraising also assists with this.

You can pay for these fees as a lump sum or as a gradual payment over the year. Please contact the school if you are experiencing financial difficulties for a confidential interview.

Congratulations Sophie Sollberger

Congratulations to our year 4 student Sophie Sollberger who wrote to Prime Minister Hon Scott Morrison MP on her concerns for the planet and climate change. Sophie received official correspondence from Mr Morrison last week. Read below.

Tina Lee – Principal

Tell Them From Me Survey

Tell Them From Me student feedback survey

I am delighted that this term, our school, like many other public schools in the state, will participate in a Department of Education initiative: The Tell Them From Me student feedback survey. The survey measures factors that are known to affect academic achievement and other student outcomes. The focus of the NSW-wide survey is on student wellbeing, engagement and effective teaching practices.

The survey is a great opportunity for our students to provide us with valuable and quick feedback on what they think about school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them. More than 6,300 schools in Australia and around the world have used Tell Them From Me to survey 5.4 million students. Capturing the voices of our students will help improve how we do things at our school.

I want to assure you that the survey is confidential. The survey is conducted online and will typically take less than 20 minutes to complete. It will be administered during school hours between 25 March and 30 April. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary.

If you do not wish for your child to participate please print off the consent form from the link below and please return the form to school by Thursday 24 March. Copies of the form and FAQs are available from:

Translated forms can also be found at the link above. Further information for parents and carers can be found:

If you would like further information regarding the survey and a detailed parent FAQ can be found at:

AFL News

Joel Colwell (5M) attended the Sydney North PSSA AFL trails on Monday in Bateau Bay and successfully made the team of 21 boys to travel to Coffs Harbour in May to represent Sydney North. There were 120 boys at the trials, what an amazing effort! Congratulations Joel.

RAP Stage 1 Science

That’s a RAP!

Stage 1 students have been learning about how Australia’s indigenous people, our traditional landowners have 6 seasons not 4 like us. We live in the D’harawal region so share the 6 seasons from this area. Students were delighted to find out their birthdays came under 2 different seasons. Giving them the opportunity to select the season they preferred.

Jackie Holman – Classroom Teacher

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The 2022 Premier’s Reading Challenge was launched on Monday 28 February. All students at Manly Vale Public School will be encouraged and supported to complete the challenge. It’s fun, free and inspires students to read a wide variety of quality books.

Infants Students (K-2) will be completing the challenge entirely at school. Students will read 30 quality PRC books during library lessons throughout the year. They will receive a participation certificate at the end of the year.

Primary Students (3-6) wishing to complete the challenge are expected to do so independently, with support available from library staff as needed. Students need to read 20 PRC books and enter them into the PRC website by the closing date, Friday 19 August, to qualify for a certificate at the end of the year.

Reading lists and general rules can be found on the PRC website at:

Scholastic Book Club

Brochures have been distributed and orders are due by Thursday 24 March – Online only

Canteen News

This week we started serving at the counter during lunch, which has been wonderful.

For it to continue every day we need volunteers, otherwise on the days we do not have anyone we will not be able to provide this service to the students. We still need someone for Friday and then going into next week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Please sign up via the following link

Emergency Lunch Payments

Please make payment for any lunches that have been provided by the canteen as soon as possible.

Robyn Lambley & Becky McGowan - Canteen Managers

Dates for your Diary

School Information